Zombie Trapped with Arrowette
by Insolent Witch
Summary: All they wanted was a nice Halloween Party.


**Title**: Zombie Trapped

**Author**: Malkavianlove

**Characters/Pairings**: Cissie King-Jones/Tim Drake, Cassie Sandsmark/Kon-El, Bart Allen

**Continuity**: Pre-Infinite Crisis Comicsverse (around the early 2000s)

**Genre:** Action, Horror (barely)

**Rating**: PG-14

**Warnings**: Mild swearing and monsterous creatures

**Spoilers: **Refernces to Young Justice

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 'em, I'm just borrowing them and returning them slightly used.

**Word Count**: 1733

**Prompts Used**: Zombies, Gotham, and Masquerade Ball were the big three

**Author's Notes**: For bradygirl_12's 2011 DCU Fic/Art Halloween Challenge on LiveJournal. This was inspired by **rhi**'sprompt on **fic_promptly**

"The hell those aren't zombies!" Cissie shouted as she grabbed the bow. "Why? Why do I go anywhere with you guys?" The glare she casts is mostly exaggerated for effect, but she can't believe this! She looks at her friends, now Titans but to her always members of Young Justice. "One night? Is that really too much to ask?"

"It is if that night is Halloween," the smirk on Robin's face kinda makes her want to hit him and kinda makes her want to kiss him… mostly she just wants to kiss him, which is a big part of the reason she even agreed to come tonight. They're at some ridiculous event in Gotham for the young elite and Tim had made arrangements for them all to get together. Cassie had done a good job of talking her into coming, but Tim is the real reason she showed up. This was supposed to be a really fun party with a great band and her best friends, now it's like a horror movie. Cissie couldn't help but think of how excited she was when the evening had started.

When she walked into the costume ball she'd been instantly struck with how dark and beautiful everything was. The massive ballroom was lit only by dim bulbs in candle-shaped holders. Mechanical jeweled spiders climbed up and down beautiful, twinkling, strings while fake bats with ruby colored eyes flew around the ceiling. The fog that crept slowly along the floor, swirling around her feet combined with the tombstones to make the entire room look like an enchanted graveyard.

Now those same decorations served to make the scene twice as horrifying. Especially when combined with the mysterious feeling that always clung in the air on the Night of Nights. Cissie has always believed that Halloween had a real magic to it and the sight of the monsters coming nearer made her feel like star of Zombie Apocalypse: The Hunt for Brains. The zombies were outside but they were getting closer to the Mansion and the people inside were starting to panic. If it weren't for the inherent danger of the situation she'd think that watching vampires, witches, angels and devils hug each other and crowd together was incredibly funny. The girl dressed as Anne Boleyn clinging to guy dressed the Pope was especially odd. Unfortunately the sight of a growing horde of zombies shouting for brains managed to take the humor out of the situation… mostly.

"When this is over we're going to have a long talk about why you brought my bow, my old costume, and how you even got them," She half-growls to Tim, even though she suspects that the entire group was in on it. Right now she's far more concerned with those zombie looking creatures that are trying to make their way into the party. It didn't take much for everybody to pull a quick change and prep for a fight, but it was a little unnerving that her gear was even here.

"Robin has to be prepared for _everything_," Robin quips back, and for just a moment she's 14 again and that little quirk of his lips is enough to send shivers through her body like she doesn't know it's impossible, they're impossible. He's a hero and she's not. Damn it! She thought she'd gotten over this stupid crush ages ago. But here they are and even in the middle of the zombie horde she still gets a little breathless when he looks her way.

The creatures keep coming closer and their everyone can hear their moaning, "Brainsssss! Braaaaaaaiiinnsssss!" The shuffle surprisingly quickly and in the light of the full moon their skin has a sickly green pallor. Cissie isn't an expert on the undead, but they sure as hell look like zombies to her.

"Dude, they're yelling about brains… I'm pretty sure that means zombies," Kon looks like he doesn't care too much what they are as long as he gets to hit them, but Tim had insisted they observe a little bit before striking.

"They're plants," Robin looks up from his wrist computer, "They must be Ivy's. We knew she was trying to do something but we weren't sure what she was planning." Cissie couldn't help but notice the way Tim had been moving all night, he's obviously been hiding sore ribs. She doesn't think that anybody other than Kon noticed it, but Tim has always played down his injuries. Cissie wonders whether Ivy is the one who gave him that wound and if he knew she'd be here tonight.

"So why are they acting like zombies?" Cassie looks like she doesn't really want to know the answer but couldn't stop herself from asking.

"Ivy probably thought it was funny. It is Halloween," the way Robin can say that like it's normal strikes Cissie as hilarious, but now's really not the time.

"We should probably get this over with before they take to the streets and gobble up trick-or-treaters," Cissie sighs. She hates to admit it but she's never felt more free than she did in this costume. She never had more of a family than when she fought beside these people and right now she feels like she's coming home. It feels perfect and easy and oh, so addictive. She told herself a long time ago that she didn't want this life, but her body moves in sync with her old team and she feel more alive than she has in years.

The fight is brutal, not for the heroes, but those faux-zombies ooze chlorophyll that creates the impression of green blood and couldn't possibly look any more creepy. It doesn't help that Kon and Cassie both seem to delight in smashing the things so that they explode like slime filled bombs all over the beautiful gardens surrounding the party.

Eventually Ivy shows herself in a flourish of flora that enshrouds the exits of the room making it impossible for anyone to leave. Cissie notes that Tim has already moved to protect the girl that Ivy's trying to get her hands on, even before the vines got anywhere near her. The whole group of them must be more than Ivy was planning on seeing tonight because the first time that Kon's TTK gets near her she shrieks. Bart dashes around and it looks like he's _playing_ with the plants, making them chase him and tie themselves in knots.

The Titans play their roles beautifully but Ivy releases a huge mass of spores and they have to protect the partygoers. Bart creates a vortex while Kon uses his TTK to shield the innocents. Cissie's already chasing after Ivy, right on Tim's heels. It's a struggle but they manage to subdue Ivy, Tim having given Cissie an arrow with some sort of serum in it that knocked Ivy unconscious. Yeah, he definitely had this all planned. After they get Ivy trussed up and the cops haul her off Tim looks at her with a little frown in the corner of mouth.

"You should have stayed with the others," His sigh sounds really exasperated.

"You shouldn't have invited me on a mission without telling me what it was," She grins when he blinks, looking thoroughly caught off guard. He's never looked so hot, that suit is so tight it ought to be illegal and she wonders if anybody would miss them if she just pinned him right here and had her way with him. She's so desperate suddenly that her body is on fire and if she were as undisciplined as she likes for people to believe neither of them would have clothes any more.

"We've really got to work an antidote for that pollen," the way he's shaking her head makes her think that this is a common thing for Ivy. She's trying to pay attention but it's not making anything easier that he's blushing a little bit as he attempts to explain the 'sex-pollen' that Ivy tried to coat the party with. He's at his cutest when he's just a bit vulnerable, especially since he's always so guarded.

They separate, change out of their costumes and back into party clothes in order to rejoin the others. By the time Cissie rejoins the group it's obvious that Tim has filled them in on Ivy's capture because Bart's demolishing the newly refilled buffet table and Cassie and Kon are dancing looking obnoxiously sweet. Only in Gotham could a villain attacking _not_ ruin a party. She jumps when Tim sneaks up beside her and places a piece of candy corn in her hand with a seriously wicked grin.

He leans close and whispers, "How long before Bart notices that I stole all of his candy corn?"

"I think until now, he's starting to look frantic," She smiles, watching Bart trying to avoid vibrating with energy as he starts looking for the lost candy corn. "It's good you took it. I really don't think he needs more candy."

"I really don't think he needed to do three circuits of Gotham while trick-or-treating earlier," Tim laughs and Cissie almost drowns in the sound of genuine Tim laughter. She pops a piece of the sweet little candy into her mouth and joins Tim on the dance floor. She asks about the girl that Ivy was after and he explains that the girl was the daughter of some CEO known for his anti-green policies. Tim's just chockfull of information that would have been useful three hours ago.

"You should have told me what was up."

"You wouldn't have come," and they both know it's true. "I wanted you to come." He looks just little shy and so damned charming that she can't even be mad at him.

"Well next time, just tell me," She likes the smile he gets when he realizes that there might be a 'next time'. Ah hell, who is she kidding? There's always a next time. Tonight was the first time in a long time that she has really felt happy. It's Halloween and tonight she went to a Masquerade Ball and dressed up as herself. Her real self. And she knows just how to thank him.

She leans up on her toes and for the second time in her life grabs Tim Drake, her Robin, into a kiss. And from the shock in his eyes it looks like Robin _wasn't_ prepared for _everything_.


End file.
